Star Wars The Porgs Awaken
by 123PixieAOD
Summary: She was a girl with a Porg; he was a guy who knew how to train it. Need I say more?


"Sit." Rey sternly pointed at the Porg, flicking her finger downwards. "Sit."

She repeated, more pleadingly than demanding. "Please." The Porg blinked at her, its overlarge ears twitching.

They stood in the Millennium Falcon, the cold metal of the corridor floor soaking into Rey's bare feet. She shivered, and pulled the shawl closer to her. "Sit!" Rey dangled the strip of fish above the Porg's head. "No food until you sit."

It was then that she smelt him.

The chemical odour spread; the acidic smell burning her nose. It filled the corridor, and she watched as the Porg wrinkled its nose.

"You are _not_ trying to do that." His bored voice echoed in the room.

"Sit Squigg." She commanded, stoically ignoring him. "Sit." Again, Ray waved the fish above his head.

"Squigg? Is th-"

"Don't you have more important things to be doing?" Ray said sharply, turned her head to the side, but still not facing Ben.

"I could ask you the same question." He responded in that bored tone.

Rey signed, and tossed the fish to the Porg. He leaped up, caught it mid air, before scurrying down the passage. She listened to the scraps his claws made on the metal.

Rey turned and leaned on the wall, facing Ben. His posture was relaxed, his arms crossed, and she was annoyed to note the scar she'd given him was healing nicely. "What are you doing here Ben?" Ren forced as much coldness into her tone.

Ben snorted, something that only irritated her further. "You think I want this now?"

Rey crossed her arms, and glared at him, allowing the silence to stretch. They kept eye contact, neither of them showing any emotion, until Ben rolled his eyes.

"You're doing it wrong."

"Am I indeed!?" This time it was Rey who snorted, "And which, may I ask, of my faults have you picked up on."

Ben ignored her sarcasm, and gestured to the fishbag on the floor. "Teaching them. The Dorks, whatever they're called."

"They're porgs; and what do you mean?" Before she realised, Rey had relaxed her crossed arms, and any pretense of indifference had faded.

"I mean... Here pass me the bag, I'll-"

"How am I exactly meant to 'pass you the bag'. Will I message it to you, wherever you are? Maybe you'll get it in a couple of -"

"Fine fine, you pick up a fish." He had his hands up, in mock surrender, a smile weakly hidden.

Rey eyed him suspiciously, before plucking a thin sliver of fish from the satchel. "Now?"

"Now-" Ben walked over the her, until he stood right beside her. Rey knew he wasn't really here, he was most likely half a galaxy away, yet she could swear she sensed a physicality to him, as if she could reach out and touch him. Or shoot him.

"Now you wait until the Porg -"

"He's called Squigg."

"- until 'Squigg' sits down on his own accord. When he does, you say 'sit' loudly and feed him the treat." Ben sounded almost embarrassed of what he was saying towards the end, and drew away from Rey.

"Does it really work?" She turned to him, curiosity winning over any other emotion.

He shrugged, as if tying to prove he was truly nonchalant about the whole topic. "It worked for my Akki." Rey burrowed her eyebrows, "Akki?" "It's a type of-" Ben waved his hand around, looking for the right words, "dog I guess? Only very scaly and a bit blind."

Rey nodded, pretending she knew what exactly a dog was. "I didn't know you had a pet?" As soon as she said, she regretted it. A smirk tugged on his lips. "And here I was thinking you knew everything about me."

When she didn't respond, he spoke again, only in a completely different, softer tone. "She was called 'Rusty', because of her colouring. I must have been, what?" He paused for a moment, counting on his fingers, "six? When I got her. I taught Rusty all types of tricks. To sit, to roll, so play dead, you know those kinda things. My mum used to joke she was the only trained Akki in the universe." Ben's voice trailed off, and he looked almost bitter at himself for bringing up Leia.

"What happened to her?" Rey asked gently.

Ben shrugged. "Skywalker took me to his temple when I was 12 and after the... 'Incident'", he smirked, "I couldn't exactly go home to catch up with Rusty could I?" Rey looked at him for a moment, before a tugging sensation caused her to look down.

Squigg was tugging on her trouser-leg, looking pointedly at the fish she clutched.

"Remember, wait for him to sit, then -"

"Yeah yeah I know." Rey muttered preoccupied, watching the Porg intensely.

"You know it may be some time before you train him. It took Rusty a few weeks to learn her first command."

Rey nodded, then looked up at Ben. "Thank you Ben." She said, smiling at him just as he quickly broke eye contact.

"Don't thank me until the Dork-"

"Porg."

"- is actually trained." Rey looked back down at the Porg, and knew without checking that Kygo Ren was no longer there. She didn't dwell on her feelings, because right then Squigg _sat_ back on his claws.

"SIT!" Ray screeched, and threw down the fish to him, hitting the small creature square in the face.


End file.
